Australia, April 21 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on March 20:

1. These proceedings settled following three days of hearing in December last year. Before the Court is an application by one of the parties, who is a solicitor, to show cause as to why the papers in the matter should not be referred to the Law Society.

2. The applicant solicitor, Mr Andy Vuong Duc Pham, is a sole practitioner who practises under the name "Andy Pham Lawyers" from offices in Fairfield. He has been a solicitor for 23 years.

3. Mr Pham was the first defendant in the proceedings. His wife, Mrs Thi Huong Giang ("Giang") Pham, was the second defendant. The plaintiff, Ms Maria Elena Potocki, was a former friend of the Phams. Mr Pham had also previously acted for her and for members of her family in his professional capacity.

Background and procedural history

4. The proceedings arose out of an advance of $1 million made by Ms Potocki in June 2021. The money was withdrawn by Ms Potocki from her bank by means of two bank cheques for $500,000 each, which Ms Potocki provided to Mrs Pham.

5. Within a few days, a contract was entered into to purchase a two-storey commercial building on Great Northern Road, Five Dock, for $1,750,000. The idea seems to have been that Mrs Pham would use the property for some sort of business venture.

6. The initial contract was in the name of Ms Potocki as purchaser and she paid the deposit of $175,000, but the purchase was eventually completed in the name of a company, MGP Investments Group Pty Limited ("MGP"), which was incorporated for that purpose. Mr Pham acted as solicitor on the purchase. He was also responsible for incorporating the company, in which Mrs Pham and Ms Potocki were recorded as equal shareholders. On settlement, Ms Potocki contributed a further $825,000. The remaining moneys presumably came from the $1 million which had been previously advanced by Ms Potocki.

7. Some interest payments were made to Ms Potocki on her loan, but they ceased. The Five Dock property fell vacant and control of MGP was deadlocked. Ms Potocki consulted solicitors, and the proceedings were commenced on her behalf in August 2022.

8. Initially, Mr Pham and Mrs Pham were the only defendants. MGP was joined as third defendant at a later point to allow an application to be made for it to be wound up.

9. At the time of the transactions which gave rise to the proceedings, the Phams were involved in other litigation in this Court. That other litigation formed an important part of the background to Ms Potocki's claims, and is also a significant factor in the present show-cause application.

10. The litigation arose out of the purchase by the Phams in 2014 of a residential property at Chiswick, which they intended to use as their family home. The contract was dated October 2014. The vendor was Mr Robert Sebie.

*Rest of the document and Footnotes can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/195ab42dd286959722a69195)

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